I mix and match what I buy. Entirely depends on price. If I can get stuff still on the sprue cheap, then I'll get it. For example, most of my necrons were on sprues still. I got 10 chaos marines on sprues for about £8. Another 10 that were assembled, and basecoated over paint, which a few have been a bit troublesome. Got 12 khorne berserkers pre-built and basecoated, some of which are fine, some of which have a very thick base coat. Pretty much all of my tyranids are on sprues, as its a battleforce. Just got to watch lots of stuff and be patient.
I only really buy metal units off eBay if there's a significant price difference. I always disassemble, strip (I love you, Fairy Power Spray!), rebuild and repaint though.
how do you disassemble? if its not much hassle then it will broaden my options on ebay although once GW officially release some news on monday then i will probably jus order off maelstrom with their 18% discount and free shipping
Plastics can be a bugger, especially if they were glued together properly. Superglue, though, is usually just a case of correct application of force, without bending the model. I've not bought any plastics, but I'd probably razor saw the bits off that I couldn't simply pull apart
To be fair I've mainly been getting anything GWS related from eBay where I have been getting stuff. Someone pointed me to two different companies that do minatures that look they would fit in with my army. Mantic and Foundry Minatures Mantic, from what I've been able to find out, are multi-part plastic models with the sort of detail that GWS are doing now, but with prices that you would have seen 15 years ago in GWS shops. I mean, when was the last time you saw a COMPLETE battleforce for 30.00 from GWS? Foundry I've put up because I love that chariot model, and come payday I know where I'm buying from.
15 years ago gamesworkshop would not have the overheads and costs that they do now, if you closed most of their stores (lose the staff- biggest cost) you could easily reduce costs and make models cheaper. It is enoying how their prices have gone up but what hasnt gone up in price, though if GW has gone to far in their pricing, it will reflect in sales and profits, then things will hopefully change. Though alot of hobbyist's have been very vocal on GW's fb page, though the web admins can only pass on their comments to the people above.
Yea i've been looking at Mantic also, they are a growing company and am pretty sure will be adding more to their range (hopefully new races other than the seemingly default dwarves-elves-orcs-undead) I've been looking around at other miniature manufacturers that can offer something similar to Warhammer and these guys look the best. There's also company called Reaper Miniatures with their warlord range
Well talking to a mate who used to work there. the molds for the models cost an absolute fortune the space marine rhino mold for instance took about a decade to pay for itself.
A update to the Citadel Finecast- from GW manger, the list from warseer is accurate- poster confirms this in gw stores. Basically GW has spent 90 million on this prodject, what they have done is made new casts from the original master copies and these are being used in the exact same way as the metal models where cast but with resin. This means that the models have no mold lines, the lines and details on the models are straighter and smoother. Monday 23rd will be a news release from GW about it, the release on the 28th will see the 125 new finecast models arrive in store for purchase, atm there should be a poster on the front of the GW stores about it though all the models are the old ones in the pictures. With the tranistion period from metal to resin, the best selling models will be done first, with a gradual continous release to remove the rest from the store. In place of the blister pacts the models will have a picture of themselves on the front- easier to find and will have a finecast labling around the store. As for the resin, its a soft smooth resin that in hot water you can bend, so can adjust the models arms etc. Is nothing like the hard resin used by forge world, also building times will be stupidly quick as you will only need a small amount of super glue as resin is porus. Bonds are very strong as well with the resin, compared to the old metal models. All the existing metal will be taken back to GW and metlted down for blood bowl teams. battlefleet gothic etc, the only 2 metal models to remain from GW will be the games day model and the white dawarf subscribers model. Whats still unkown is part metal/plastic models what will happen to them at current. So will have to wait till the 28th to see the new models.
lolol 90 million to develop a resin without mould lines and that can 'bend' in hot water is bloody retarded. For years now GW have been shifting less stock and only reason they just about making more profit is due to their annual price rises, surely developing a new resin at a cost of 90 million is the stupidest thing to do. What was wrong in just using an existing resin, the resin that Forgeworld and Privateer Press use is very good quality. If this is their justification for the huge price markups then they are beyond help.
I suspect their unwillingness to use the same resin as forgeworld is that the dust created when cleaning up a Forgeworld model is at the very least "mildly" carcinogenic. The "Finecast" line cannot be, considering the number of GW customers that aren't old enough to understand that they need to take extra precautions when building resin models. Creating a system that doesn't provide mould lines is likely not to be cheap, given the very nature of moulds. I'm not defending the price rises, merely the "why not just use the same stuff as ForgeWorld" the price rises won't stop me buying direct from GW, though. Considering how much time I spend in a GW store painting and building, It's not exactly an expensive hobby given how much time and enjoyment I get out of it. Sure, I wish it was cheaper, but I wish everything was cheaper. BRAWL: When the finecast Chaplain in Terminator armour comes out, I'll do one with a thunder hammer
The resin forge world use, produces a dust and when cut wrongly will cause the cut to go straight through the resin. The product would not work for GW, there new resin, alongside the cost of having to make new molds for each metal model they are replacing, as well as a change of packaing will easily come up to 90 million. Do you know how much it cost to make the first box of space marines? You complain about huge marks ups, yet the cost of everything has increased, yet compared to other hobbies GW is still afforable. At current the cost of living is rising everything is getting tight so people do have a right to complain, yet its still a hobby they cost. Be thankfull GW invests alot back into the hobby to improve it.
I honestly do not see how sensible it is to spend 90 million when their annual income for last 2 years has been around the 125 million mark. Yes cost of living on most things has increased, but how many times have GW increased their prices in the last several years? And always way above rate of inflation. Lots of GW products in UK are seeing a 20-30% price rise. The Tomb Kings stuff was only released 3 weeks prior to next price increase and they're seeing over 20% price increase. Outside UK the price increase are even more ridiculous, with the Canadians paying like 75% more than what we pay, and Australians are the same. Sales have been decreasing for past number of years, and only reason they are still maintaining similar income margins year on year is due to their price rises, how long can they continue doing this until they price most people out of it and force them elsewhere. Yes I will still buy a new GW model now and again, but other companies are growing and producing very good stuff also, so I will buy most from them. I mean the new Dwarf Berserker regiment released by Avatars of War is as good as any GW release, and I'm tempted to buy them even though i hate dwarves lol. I like GW, they produce some of the best models, but am just frustrated at what they're (and have been) doing
Other companies may be improving but there going to be no where near GW's market dominance, GW's models should improve more with the finecast- alot of old hobbiest's are excited about it so will wait till next saturday. GW's price rises, all i can say is maybe buy shares in the company and complain proably be the best way to get the issue across. Would be nice to see price cuts, any links to info on GW profits and sales numbers?
Their report for last year: http://investor.games-workshop.com/downloads/results/results2010/2009-10_FinalFullYearReport.pdf
Sorry, I also have to point out that what started as a conversation between me and an Irish dude who likes Machine Head (Naloac) has blossomed into a full blown 30 page Crusade against the foes of The Emperor!
It has indeed grown beyond what I ever expected it to be. I might take a few pics of some of the minis I still have lying around painted.
